Long Live the King
by AbyssalCaesar
Summary: Advance Wars Dark Conflict / Days of Ruin: A look at what could have happened if Finn had gone to Sigismundo's aid to save him from Lin. Reviews much appreciated.


**My first fanfic WOO HOO! I figured rather than wade into a series with a strong following and established communities, I would be better off going for a more neglected series i.e. Advance Wars and in particular Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict. So here it is and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or nintendo. Please take the time to leave a review please.**

**Being the posh old Brit that I am, I will be using the European names for the characters so I will provide a translator for any Americans who haven't the foggiest who I am banging on about.**

**Lin=Lin**

**Finn=Waylon**

**Sigismundo=Greyfield**

**Ed=Will**

**Catleia=Isabella**

**Dr Moritz=Dr Morris (i think)**

**Trak=Gage**

**Zadia=Tasha**

**O'Brian=Brenner**

**Laurentia=Rubinelle**

**Zephyrus=Lazuria**

**Long Live the King**

The explosion was immense and the walls of fire gushing out from the disintegrating building engulfed the soldiers fighting a last ditch attempt to hold off their attackers. Nothing remained but ash and the burnt out remnants of the New Laurentian Army's headquarters now squatted indignantly at what was the centre of the firestorm.

The destruction of this building meant far more than a defeat; it was the end of one man's hopes for kingship as the launch coordinates for the Nemesis Missiles were within the building and the launch system would have been rendered inoperable by the destruction. The world had narrowly escaped a second apocalypse thanks to the efforts of the Independent Legion and particularly those of Lieutenant Lin.

However, the steely woman, who had just saved humanity, had other things on her mind. Captain O'Brian had not yet been avenged and the man responsible, Admiral Sigismundo was still alive. Lin knew in her heart that what she was going to do wouldn't bring her captain back and if he was alive he would never approve of it, but in her mind she had no choice. This was something she needed to do; killing Sigismundo was the only way… because if it wasn't then she had nothing left in life to fight for.

* * *

><p>Once he realised defeat was inevitable, Sigismundo had immediately panicked and fled from the front lines towards the NLA camp only to discover it ablaze as his soldiers having heard of the defeat had began to defect to the Independent Legion or fight amongst themselves as they began looting supplies and fleeing for the woods surrounding the battlefield. They preferred to take their chances in the wilderness.<p>

Sigismundo fought his way through the throng of soldiers and after finding several soldiers still loyal to him attempted to restore order by ordering his troops to fire on deserters. In the ensuing fire fight even more soldiers fled and Sigismundo came to the realisation that while his army was doomed he might yet save himself. "They are weak and so it is only natural they shall be cut down whilst we, the strong, survive", he declared haughtily to his loyal soldiers. "Prepare a vehicle for me to esca- I mean make a tactical withdrawal in", two of the soldiers dutifully went to fetch to jeeps, which were among the only vehicles to survive the battle. They embarked into the two vehicles and fled for the woods as they would provide the most cover from Legion bombing and enable the Admiral to escape unnoticed.

Little did he know that Lin having snuck into the NLA camp had witnessed all and knew perfectly well that Sigismundo's forest escape was far from being as perfect as he would like. During reconnaissance before the battle she had cited the trees as too thick to manoeuvre vehicles through easily and that the way Sigismundo was going was right in the direction of a plasma field, formed by two meteor fragments being in close proximity to each other. Nothing could pass through such a field without being totally annihilated and having their atoms scattered to oblivion. The net was closing ever-faster on Sigismundo and Lin knew it was only a matter of time before she caught up with the cowardly man who had wrought so much destruction and death.

* * *

><p>Flying high above the chaos, a considerable distance from the battlefield, Captain Finn of the NLA was busy puzzling it over in his head why he was responding to the distress calls from the frontline army and rushing to aid them when he should have just carried on flying away from it all.<p>

Having suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of that self-righteous little sack of crap and his precious Legion, Finn had spent a long time flying around trying to clear his head and decide what to do next. He decided he couldn't just flounce back to Sigismundo in his usual bombastic style, he had been explicitly ordered to eliminate the Legion as a threat and capture the Zephyrians neither of which he had succeeded in. His failure left a bitter taste in his mouth although nowhere near as bitter as his own blood would be if he returned to Sigismundo only to be put in front of the firing squad for his failure. Another option he rejected was launching another attack on the Legion. He had lost his entire army in that battle and any survivors hiding on the battlefield would not be in any fit state to launch another attack. He was also quite enjoying being alone up in the clouds. He only had to worry about looking out for himself.

So he had decided to lie low for a while and had located fuel and food before flying out to a mansion that, whilst in a state of disrepair was still a safe place to remain in. He had seen this mansion before while flying over the area on missions and had wondered if he might have been allowed to live in it after the Legion were defeated and Sigismundo crowned king. Sure it was in complete disrepair but here was a pad he could party all night in and enjoy living in the lap of luxury. Cracking open several cans of Laurentian Armed Forces Own Brand Beer, Finn turned on his battlefield radio to listen to what was going on in the NLA…

He awoke the next day slumped on the floor with a splitting headache "Woo… hoo…" he muttered as he staggered to his feet. "That was some… some strong stuff… but nothing the mighty Finn couldn't handle!" he yelled loudly to no one in particular then soon wished he hadn't as the pain in his head intensified. Later, having emptied the contents of his stomach, Finn was back listening to the radio in the comfort of a large (slightly mouldy) armchair. The sounds of battle on the other end were unmistakeable and as Finn cycled through each different channel he began to grasp the full picture of what was going on.

* * *

><p>Now four hours later he was flying to Sigismundo's rescue at the head of a ragged but sizeable remnant of NLA soldiers who had previously deserted or been abandoned by Sigismundo and had only been coerced into joining the rescuer because Finn had assured them they would be well rewarded by the Admiral for saving his chubby neck. To bolster his forces he had recruited large amounts of mercenaries and raiders with the promise of power and wealth and this had resulted in him having a powerful army at his disposal. It was for the exact same reason as his men that Finn was flying towards the battle at full speed. There would be lots of money up for grabs and having a person of power in your dept was always a good thing. Who knows, he might even be able to succeed Sigismundo and crown himself King! "King Finn" he thought had a nice ring to it.<p>

He also he had Captain Courageous' little pet to deal with and the other self-righteous hypocrites that he could hardly wait to smack down. There was that weird girl who seemed to be under the impression that Ed was the best thing since Finn had been born; clearly her taste in men was lacking. Then there was that Doctor; Dr Morris… Dr Morerice… Dr Moriarty… whatever the hell he was called. All Finn needed to know was his jokes were notoriously awful and he was another idiot who was too busy watching out for others instead of himself. Those two Zephyrians commanders that the Legion sided with disgusted Finn just as much as the Legion themselves. While Finn lacked the fanatical nationalism of Sigismundo, there was no doubt in his mind the Zephyrians were the enemy and that is all they would ever be to him. That woman Zadia was a formidable opponent in the skies and Finn would admit and she was insanely hot. But the cow had shot down his planes more times than he would have liked and she wouldn't stop going on about revenge. The other Zephyrian, Trak, freaked him out and he wasn't afraid to admit it. "He goes into battle bare-chested!" Finn remarked incredulously "that is just asking to be killed!" His apparent lack of response to anything also annoyed Finn: "let's party", "woo-hoo" and "I want booze" were definitely missing from his vocabulary. And finally there was the Lieutenant with a gaze that seemed to burn through everything. He wondered what O'Brian, the dinosaur extraordinaire, dying would have done to her; she and the captain seemed always very close. The temptation to joke about it had been suppressed only by the permanent glare she seemed to have on her face. He knew that she would be hunting Sigismundo for revenge and the thought that he'd have to protect the colossal mound of lard from her had crossed his mind.

"All units are to find the Admiral and regroup with main force," ordered Finn to the army. "All air units with me," he yelled. Finn popped a CD into the on-board jukebox he had had installed in the cockpit of his plane. ("Flight of the Coward" by Waylon it was titled) It was time to show the Legion who was boss…

* * *

><p>Meanwhile far below on the battlefield Commander Ed of the Independent Legion was starting to get anxious. The battle was still not yet won as stubborn remnants of NLA troops continued to fight bolstered by the rumours of reinforcements coming to their aid. Ed knew that any reinforcements could be disastrous and the NLA could easily regain their advantage and continue to hound the Legion. More worryingly was the absence of Lin who, frontline units reported hadn't been seen since the missiles were destroyed. Catleia had assured him several times she was probably out on a stealth operation and probably didn't appreciate Ed's attempts to contact her via her radio.<p>

Trak and Dr Moritz walking towards him interrupted his thoughts and he turned to face them. Perhaps Lin had contacted them. She hadn't.

"So how long until the reinforcements arrive?" Ed enquired anxiously after they had finished giving him their report. "Zadia reckoned the ground forces are less than half an hour away and the air units maybe 10 minutes tops," Trak stated bluntly. "She is taking most of our air units to fight them and slow them down but there is a high probabi..." He was cut off by the sound of Zadia's voice talking through the radio and despite the bad reception Ed could hear the worry in her voice. "Bad news guys, Finn's back and he is leading a powerful army. Looks like he has been recruiting ex-soldiers and there are several mercenary and raider detachments among them. There is no way my air force can stop all of them. Some are bound to get through and we only have enough fuel for a few more minutes of combat." Ed received the news in silence. The situation was now dire and he knew that he had to finish things quickly before the rest of the army arrived. "Trak find as many anti-air units a possible and bring them to the frontline" he commanded. Catleia gave his hand a reassuring squeeze "If we beat him once we can beat him again" she reassured him. Ed nodded in reply, he really needed Lin right now to do her job and tell him what to do! "Damn tactics room" he muttered under his breath.

* * *

><p>Lin's heart was pounding in her chest as she raced through the dense wood, only just avoiding the branches and roots that sought to snag her like the tendrils of some unseen beast. She had her prey insight. Sigismundo's jeep had received a glancing hit from a bomb and appeared to have lost its escort. All alone. A sitting duck. The jeep appeared to be heading towards a clearing, presumably to outrun any possible pursuers but was having to navigate its way through a series of fallen trees; Lin would have no such issues and could easily take a shortcut through the dense undergrowth to intercept it. Positioning herself low to the ground behind a log, Lin checked her weapon, inserted a new clip just to be sure and waited.<p>

She wouldn't have to wait long. With a roar of its engine the jeep finally navigated the last of the logs and roared towards the clearing like a rabid beast. Calmly Lin took one deep breath stepped out of the bushes and opened fire…

The machine gun fire tore through the windscreen, killing the driver instantly in a spray of blood. A tyre burst and the vehicle erupted into flame. The jeep flew through the air over Lin before grinding to a halt in the clearing it had so desperately been fleeing for. Lin followed and prepared herself for what she would find and what she might still have to do.

* * *

><p>Finn gritted his teeth and spun his plane in yet another evasive manoeuvre to get out of the way of that pesky interceptor he'd been duelling for the past ten minutes. He knew whose plane it was, no one could have held him back this long except that psychotic Zephyrian red head, Zadia. His air forces had been attacked out of nowhere and he'd lost several planes already. He was about to order his squadrons to retreat and form up closer to the main force when to his relief and surprise the Legion's planes spun around and flew back the way they'd come. "Thank God!" He declared. "All units pursue those fighters and destroy them when they land. Then locate and eliminate the Legion's ground forces. I'm going to find the Admiral" Under his breath he muttered "Can't be too hard he's big enough to be seen on radar!"<p>

He descended rapidly out of the sky toward where the Admiral's forces were still in disarray and managed to find a patch of ground to land on. It was evident from the state of the men still on the frontline that the NLA was being increasingly beleaguered by the Legion's vanguard and could not afford to grant even the wounded respite. The surviving officers informed him of the situation and pointed him in the direction the Admiral had fled. Finn commandeered a transport copter and with several of his most trusted men set out, flying over the forest looking for Sigismundo.

Finn knew that if the Admiral was alive then there chances of victory were good. If not, then Finn was well aware of the fact that the majority of his army were fighting only on the grounds they would be rewarded by "The King". No Admiral, no reward, no reward, no victory and Finn was going to have to hightail it out of there very fast to avoid going the same way as his boss.

* * *

><p>The eerie glow from the plasma conduits cast a strange light over the clearing that seemed to mingle with the light of the fire from the burning jeep. Lin walked calmly across the clearing throwing aside her machine gun as she went and pulling out her pistol. She was ready to become Sigismundo's judge, jury and executioner.<p>

A figure forced its way out of the jeep and staggered to its feet. Lin saw by the man's small build it was not the Admiral and shot him twice through the chest. The man fell backwards and did not move. Another man climbed out the other side, successfully extracting himself from the mass of torn metal, and Lin knew immediately that she had found her prey.

"Hello Admiral", she spoke her voice devoid of all emotion save a trace of anticipation. Standing there clutching his arm, blood trickling from his forehead and his uniform tarnished with smoke he finally looked as pathetic as he truly was. "I have finally tracked you down and now there is no more running." She drew her pistol and aimed it at his forehead. "You took Captain O'Brian from me and now I must avenge him. A life for a life wouldn't you say? But then I'd have to kill you thousands of times for the lives your pathetic war has claimed." She paused and composed herself enjoying the sight of him begging. Sigismundo's pleas fell on her stony heart but she brushed them aside until he brought up Captain O'Brian. "Do you think Captain O'Brian would possibly condone your behaviour? If you kill me, you will be as bad as me! You'll be the same as me!" Lin hesitated, she could feel a gust of wind forcefully blowing behind her but paid it no heed, she was about to raise the gun and put an end to this madman when someone barrelled into her and knocked her to the ground.

* * *

><p>Flying above in a transport copter it hadn't taken Finn long to find the Admiral and Lin. He had ordered the pilot to set the copter down and had expected Lin to turn around and fire but she appeared absorbed in her own thoughts and her desire to kill the Admiral. Just as Finn disembarked she had raised her gun again and Finn had panicked seeing his reward evaporating before his eyes. He had charged across the clearing without a weapon save a combat knife. Crashing into her, he sent her sprawling onto the ground. Finn chuckled to himself and was about the crow in triumph when Lin's leg lashed out and his feet were swept out from under him. Hitting the earth squarely on his backside Finn realised something else… the pistol was still in Lin's hand and she appeared to be aiming it at him. "Ahh crap…" he sighed before throwing himself at her in a desperate attempt to incapacitate her. To his surprise and relief he wasn't shot, as Lin apparently still dazed from her fall was not prepared for such a lightning quick response. He grappled for her hand and managed to knock the gun through the air. "Sorry darling!" he said looking at her with his signature grin. Then her forehead connected with his face and he felt blood fill his mouth and his sunglasses crack. He cried out in pain and fell backwards "That is no way to treat the mighty Finn" he yelled indignantly.<p>

Lin was scrambling across the ground to her gun. Finn grabbed her by her leg and dragged her back across the ground flipping her over so he ended up straddling her. "You gonna play nice now" he snarled brandishing his knife. Her struggles told him she was not and she managed to flip him off. Finn sprung up from the ground as she did and lunged for her with his knife. Lin grabbed his arm and twisted his wrist sending the knife plummeting from his grasp. She followed it up with a kick aimed at his midriff but he brought his elbow down onto her knee sending her reeling. He proceeded by grabbing her flowing hair and tugging her towards him. She punched him hard in the chest face but in response he viciously backhanded her across the face knocking to the ground. Several well placed kicks to her exposed mid-section later and she had stopped fighting and lay there moaning quietly.

Finn casually walked over to her pistol and picked it up. "It could only ever have ended this way," he crowed. Lin struggled into a kneeling position and looked up at him with a mixture of despair and loathing. With a chuckle Finn planted his hand on her chest and pushed her back onto the muddy ground and walked away. Looking back he saw that his soldiers had now surrounded Lin and had their rifles trained on her. Finn turned away from her and marched to where Sigismundo was receiving medical attention. "Hey there Admiral, someone told me a war needed winning!" Sigismundo seemed to regain some of his usual pomp. "Ah Captain Finn, excellent I knew you'd never abandon the Laurentian cause! The time of ascension has come, I will be King yet!" He bellowed to the heavens.

* * *

><p>Lin lay there on the cold, hard ground and felt numbness sink into her as final as death itself. She had failed. O'Brian's death would go un-avenged and her foolishness may have doomed the legion. She made no effort to resist as the soldiers bound her arms behind her and forced her onto the transport copter and slung her down in a corner of it, tying her legs together and gagging her for good measure. Not that they should really bother, she felt so drained she barely had the strength to stay conscious.<p>

Sometime later the copter lifted off and flew to a bunker a good distance away from the battle. They touched down and Lin was hauled over a soldier's shoulder. He roughly carried her into a cell and left her there. The room stank of mildew and urine but Lin was beyond caring. She just lay there and waited for her executioner to appear.

* * *

><p>"Fall back and regroup!" Ed yelled to his troops. Just recently the NLA reinforcements had appeared and had pushed back the Independent Legion away from the NLA HQ so that now it was the Legion's base hat was under fire. Attempts to push them back with Zadia's air force had been thwarted by intense anti-air fire from the New Laurentian Army. In contrast to their enemy most of the Legion's own anti-air forces had been taken out by NLA commandos and the Legion was being bombed into submission. Ed had already sent Catleia and Dr Moritz away from the frontline along with the wounded and civilians to a city where they could regroup. Trak was standing atop a rocket tank and the salvo it fired decimated a medium tank that had broken through their defensive line. A unit of battle worn tanks charged by Ed in a counter attack but were removed from existence by an NLA battleship that had positioned itself in the nearby estuary. Zadia led a bomber wing screaming over the ship and despite losing some planes to enemy fire sent the battleship to a watery grave. To his horror Ed spotted another three moving through the water and knew that a rout was almost inevitable.<p>

With great heaviness in his heart Ed sounded the retreat. He sank further into despair when Trak informed him Lin had been captured. As the battered remnants of the Legion left the battlefield under the bombardment of NLA artillery Ed vowed they would return and next time Finn and Sigismundo would not be so lucky. He tried to put the thought out of his mind of what fate awaited Lin. Suddenly Trak ran up to him and announced that Finn wanted to talk face to face with him. This news surprised Ed but he let Trak lead him to where Finn was standing waving a white flag of peace with two of his men flanking him. Zadia was already there glaring witheringly at Finn who was grinning from ear to ear despite the stiches in his lip. "Ah if it isn't the captain's pet!" Finn beamed upon seeing Ed, "where's your chick? I thought you'd have her with you at all times. Oh well there's one hot chick hear already!" Finn declared looking Zadia up and down. Zadia took a step forward and Ed could feel Trak tensing next to him. Ed put a hand on both their shoulders, "No point getting angry with him. That coward is hardly worth it." Ed stepped towards Finn and stared him down "You know nothing of friendship do you? You'll always be scared and alone unlike us. That is why you always bully people and go with the strongest isn't it Finn?" The grin faltered on Finn's face at that and when he next spoke there was something else in his voice, an absence of joking and humour, instead menace laced with arrogance had replaced it. "I have captured Lin and I have managed to persuade Sigismundo she will be more useful to us alive, well to me anyway", he said maliciously. "She is also my insurance if you and your buddies should ever decide to come back and take me on. Sigismundo has big plans and I am finally free to do as I please in perfect comfort so don't rain on my parade ok? Anyway the other reason I am here is because the Admiral sent me to inform that you have approximately 24 hours to move all your troops past the Ares Mountains or else we will set off in pursuit of you. This territory is now officially part of Laurentia and self-righteous fools like you have no place here."

Zadia finally snapped and leapt at Finn swearing and cursing "You bastard, if you hurt Lin I'll hunt you down and tear you to pieces! You won't last a minute!" Finn's two guards moved forward and forced her off Finn, one of them punching her hard and winding her with his rifle butt. Trak ran forward and let her rest on him, his normal emotionless demeanour replaced by one of worry and concern. Finn threw his head back and laughed "You bunch of circus freaks! You are all so pathetic and stupid it is unbelievable! All of ya need serious reality checks I mean look at this world! What good are your stupid morals and values in all this? The only thing worth caring for now is yourself; nothing else matters but your own wellbeing. You sacks of crap strutting around pretending you all help people out of the "goodness of your hearts". Ha! You are no better than me got it? You are not better people than me. You just can't face up to it. We are all survivors but you lot don't know how to act like them. All we have is ourselves and that is all that matters; all that ever will matter!" With that Finn marched off, still laughing, and flew off in his fighter.

Zadia soon got over her daze and tried to walk without support but soon staggered back into Trak's arms. Seeing his worried face she remarked "sorry for making you worry," before he lifted her into his arms. They arrived back at the new rendezvous point outside NLA territory and were met by Catleia who took one look at Ed's expression and ran to embrace him; he held her to him and just for a moment Ed forgot the world and the trials that would be ahead of them.

* * *

><p><em>Sing for Laurentia, land of the glorious<em>

_Fight for Laurentia, home of the victorious_

_Your hearts and minds, for Laurentia's will_

_Onwards and onwards, to all lands known to us_

_Praise the patriots, who live for the cause_

_Hail to the dragon, whose fire inspires us_

_To every child a message send out _

_To serve is to be, immortalised in our struggle_

The national anthem of Laurentia blared throughout the large square in Sigisgrad, a relatively intact city now renamed and commandeered to be the New Laurentian Capital. Standing on the steps of the city hall, now the royal palace was Sigismundo standing on a podium in full military uniform only now with a fur cape attached to his uniform along with brilliant shining epaulettes. He waved to the assembled masses of soldiers and civilians who filled the square. He'd done it. His coronation had been scheduled for exactly one month after the victory over the Legion. In that time the NLA had established a firm territorial presence and seized a vast amount of land reasonably unopposed. Settlements all across the region were visited by armed troops and asked to join the new nation and if they refused were coerced or simply purged and the settlement given to loyal citizens or simply drained of resources and supplies. The Independent Legion had begun a guerrilla war against the NLA, attacking ill defended bases on the border or destroying military expeditions into the wilderness, but even the knowledge his archenemies still lived could not ruin his coronation.

Finn approached now across the steps, in the uniform of a general festooned with medals, carrying a solid gold sceptre shaped like a long serpentine dragon wrapped round a pole with flames coming from its mouth, which he lifted up to show the crowd evoking an enormous applause not all of it forced. For all the repression that the NLA had enforced, some people were genuinely glad to have some order once again in their lives and the medicine the IDS had delivered in return for "test subjects" had managed to curtail the spread of the Floral Virus so there was some actual joy in the crowd. Finn passed the sceptre to Sigismundo who slowly moved it in an arch above the crowd. He was king, the strongest of all men! He'd finally proved to the world he was worthy of being its supreme ruler. There were only two kinds of people in the world, those fit to rule and those who were to serve. He was the former, a perfect specimen with the blood of Laurentia burning in his veins. They'd all been wrong about him; all of the academy test scores, the labelling of him as "mediocre", the insecurities that had tormented him. The reign of King Sigismundo the Mighty would bring all of humanity to heel and he would be the first of all men to unite the world and all would hail him as their lord and master.

* * *

><p>In a room, overlooking the square on the 3rd floor of the city hall, Lin, still bound and gagged, could hear the sounds of the triumph outside. She managed to spur enough energy into her muscles to struggle to her feet and hopped over to look out the window which was of course, firmly locked. She saw a gallows had been erected in the centre of the square and captured Independent Legion officers were being lead there now. She could hear Sigismundo booming on and on about how these warmongering terrorists would be punished as a way to usher in a new era of global peace. She watched helplessly as each officer's neck was forced into a noose and Sigismundo's bellowing voice resonated throughout her world, "All who oppose me will hang!" Lin sunk down to the floor not wanting to watch her friends and comrades die. Somehow she sunk into a slumber that she partially hoped she'd never wake up from. But soon enough she felt the toe of a military boot poking her and looked up to see Finn beaming down at her. "You comfy down there?" He enquired sarcastically. "Well you and I are going up market to a little mansion I have had renovated to my luxury pad. It's very remote so escaping is pointless and anyway it's not like you'd dare run from the mighty Finn. General Finn," he added as an afterthought.<p>

The mansion was vast and very elaborate and the restoration work was still going on. In the main entrance room a huge portrait depicting Finn ordering troops whilst riding a horse had been put over the fireplace and a life-size marble statue of Sigismundo had been placed in a corner. Lin despite her predicament could barely avoid laughing at the extreme vanity being displayed and felt pity for the pair of idiots who were so desperately tring to be above everyone else. The whole place was patrolled by numerous guards and a surprising amount of women that Finn referred to as his fan club were present. Occasionally Finn would make some playful remark at the scantily clad woman who would wink or make some other sexual insinuation.

Finn led her through the mansion to her quarters; comprising of a bedroom, a bathroom and a living room. The windows were firmly locked, the glass reinforced and any furniture that could have been used to batter through had been secured down. Finn finally untied and ungagged her and told her to settle in because she'd be spending a lot of time in here. He told her he'd be back in a couple of days for a bit of what he called "Finn fun" and left her. She shuddered at the thought but since witnessing her comrades' deaths some of her old determination had returned and she knew she could still get her chance to enact her revenge. Ed and the Legion had continued fighting and this mansion was surely not inescapable. She could hear O'Brian's voice in her head even now "Hope never dies." Next time she fought, she wouldn't lose to that jumped up fly boy. With a new courage in her heart she went to the bathroom showered and changed into clothes Finn had left for her. They were overly provocative and slutty but it just felt good to be out of her uniform which, was caked in blood, dirt and the stench of failure.

She made a promise then and there that she hadn't failed yet and that in the future it would be Sigismundo and Finn who were hanging from the gallows to the applause of a crowd. How she longed for that day.

* * *

><p>Finn once again flew high above the ruined world thinking to himself about the future and a sense of satisfaction began to come over him. He was free to do whatever he felt like now and had the power to satisfy his whims and desires. Ever since he had witnessed family and friends die in the war and the fiery apocalypse he had vowed to only care about himself; life was easier and better that way. The cataclysm had loosened his bonds and now with this victory and Sigismundo's ascension he was completely unleashed. "Long live the king." he thought to himself. This world was his to do as he pleased and he'd live his new utopia to its fullest. Sending his plane into a steep dive Finn laughed as he spiralled over the ruined world below. His world…<p>

**Thank you for reading this. I hope you take the time to leave a review.**


End file.
